Fate plants its seeds in a person’s nature long before they bloom.
In Shanghai in 1934, a ceremony codenamed “Startup” opens Pandora’s box of technology and conspiracy. Shen Zhilan, an engineer who has returned from studying abroad, upholds the Shen family’s ancestral precept that “technology must be the foundation of the nation.” She takes charge of a mysterious device called “Ochre Soil,” which can optimize life, or even erase it. Rational and resilient, she nevertheless struggles to choose between the greater good of her country and a past love she cannot let go.
Her opponent is Gu Weiqin, her former lover. He has inherited his father’s pragmatic, results-driven approach and believes that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. When he chooses to cooperate with foreign investors, even going so far as to cross forbidden lines, his conflict with Shen Zhilan becomes more than a clash of paths. Their beliefs are now utterly divided.
An unexpected “final startup” erases all of Gu Weiqin’s memories of conspiracy and love, but also turns him into an even more dangerous being: a walking “seed hole” connected to an unknown dimension. When the “Sunshine” series of seeds, carrying both hope and destruction, is shipped overseas, and Yokohama’s port district becomes a strange land overrun by rampant plants, a crisis that reaches far beyond national borders erupts.
Caught in the maelstrom:
· Is Shen Zhilan’s “steadfastness” the key to turning the tide, or an obsession that traps her in her own making?
· Is Gu Weiqin’s “flexibility” the right way to save the nation, or a betrayal that lets the wolf in?
Come on! It sounds great! The story is exciting!